


Two Sides of the Same Coin

by whycellothere



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:15:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5555612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whycellothere/pseuds/whycellothere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war is over, but all is not well for Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Their relationships have failed and after a chance encounter in a bar, they suddenly find themselves much more involved with each other than they ever have before. But the happy ending they both long for has yet to come- they will face many roadblocks along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coincidence? I Think Not

Draco Malfoy slumped at a table in the Hog’s Head, an abandoned glass of firewhisky next to him. He had recently divorced his now ex-wife, Astoria, and was certainly down in the dumps. The end of the war, far from the golden end he had anticipated, was a lot harder for him as a former Death Eater than it had been for most others; people jeered at him in the streets and his father was in prison. The best part of the end of the war was how much closer him and his mother had become- with him being the only resulting man of the family and her having seen how close she was to losing him, she had attached herself to their relationship and lost the frosty demeanor she always had around her husband. Draco supposed she realized they were no longer a big name in the Wizarding World…Malfoy had, in fact, become a rather infamous title. Rather bitterly, Draco’s thoughts turned to Harry Potter. Potter was undoubtedly still the golden boy he had always been, favored by all, doing no wrong...him and that Weasley girl, oh how he had always despised her and the way she always doted on Potter. It was simply disgusting.  
He was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of the door creaking open. He kept his head down and focused on following the tracks of the table when suddenly a familiar voice muttered to the bartender, two words- “Firewhisky please.” His head whipped around and of course, there he was...Harry Potter. The familiar wild shag of hair, the emerald green eyes in the round glasses, the Adam’s apple bobbing wildly as he spoke- Draco scowled fiercely as he observed the taller man. This was absolutely the last thing he needed, especially today. He turned back around to grimace at his half full glass before Potter could see who else was in the bar, and the lack of other patrons allowed him to hear the audible gasp as Harry saw him. The next thing Draco heard was a chair being scraped backwards right in front of him and the thump of a glass being set down on a table- Draco looked up in annoyance to see Harry sitting right in front of him.  
“Funny, I don’t remember you asking if anyone was sitting here before you invited yourself, Potter,” Draco spat out. Oddly, the ghost of a smile touched Potter’s lips before he responded in a gloomy tone, "Yes, sorry, I just...don't fancy sitting alone tonight." Draco scowled and opened his mouth to argue with him when Harry downed the entire glass of firewhisky he had in front of him in a few gulps. Malfoy's eyes widened ever so slightly and he looked taken aback- Harry was clearly aiming to get hammered. "Geez, Potter, what's the occasion? Are you trying to end up in St. Mungo's?" Harry chuckled darkly, and sighed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Ginny and I got divorced. I guess I'm trying to drown my troubles," he told Draco." Malfoy looked astonished. "You're not serious, are you?" he asked incredulously. "I divorced Astoria fairly recently, as well...which is why I'm in this hellhole of a bar."  
Harry glared at him. "Oh yeah, sorry, I guess this place isn't fancy enough for a pureblood like yourself. D'you always have to be so judgemental?" Draco's eyes narrowed into slits and his mouth into a hard slash on his face. "I didn't know you were such a saint- wait, what am I saying? You're the CHOSEN ONE, the BOY WHO LIVED- of course you're a saint! You never do anything wrong! Ginevra must be insane to have left you! Why did she, anyway, Potter? Even a Weasley couldn't stand living with a halfblood?" Harry's eyes gained a desperate, pitiful quality as he forced the words out. "I'm gay, Malfoy. She left me because I'm gay." Draco's mouth dropped open stupidly as he comprehended the information. Gay? Potter? He had Chang and the Weasley girl during school, and he always looked so sickeningly in love with her...surely, this is a sick joke? And at the same time Astoria left me for the same reasons? Well, he musn't know that about me. No one can- I, unlike him, have a very small amount of dignity that I must uphold...coming out as gay couldn't help that.   
Potter interrupted Malfoy's inner turmoil in a cutting tone, "Are you happy? Is that what you wanted me to admit?" Draco's face adopted a crafty look. "Potter...have you told anyone else this?" Harry suddenly looked stricken. "No, I haven't, except for Ginny and I didn't have much of a choice then. Malfoy...Draco...please, don't tell anyone. I'm not ready, and I don't want to deal with the Prophet hounding me about it if it spread. Please." Malfoy's stomach did a strange sort of flip as he heard Harry say his first name, and in such a pleading way at that, but he ignored it and made himself look at those sad, now dark, green eyes. "Alright, alright, you don't have to grovel...but I am going to blackmail you. It seems to me, Potter, that you owe me a few favours in exchange for your silence. Prepare to pay up." Harry's face changed, and for the first time in their meeting he looked genuinely uneasy. "What kind of favors, Malfoy?"


	2. Housekeeper?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What a...strange request. What shall Harry do?

Harry gulped as Malfoy's face morphed into a smirk. He cursed the flip in his stomach that came with it- even after all the years he had spent seeing that same smirk, it still made his heart beat a little faster with the things it seemed to promise. Harry hung on to what Malfoy was saying- what could Draco possibly want from him, especially after everything? The glint in Malfoy's eyes turned into a full blown evil spark as he specified exactly that. "Chores, Potter, hard work. Unfortunately, what with the..." and at this, Malfoy's mouth turned down slightly at the corners and he gained a sad and yet slightly angry look in his eyes, "...imprisonment of my father, Malfoy Manor has suffered a bit. I want you to spend, oh, a week staying there working as my mother's and my slave. Cooking, cleaning, home improvement- everything I simply haven't the time for."   
At this, Harry's heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. Stay? In Malfoy Manor? And, for goodness' sake, fix it?? Fix the place Voldemort had used as Death Eater headquarters, stay at the place his friend's had been tortured in, stay in the place that reeked of dark magic and bigotry? Then again...he had to practice what he preached to those that would listen. Dark wizards can always change, and there was no reason that Malfoy Manor should represent what it did in Harry's mind- it was not the place, but the wizards and witches in it, that had caused all the trouble. Regardless, as hard as it was for Harry to face it, staying anywhere for a week in close proximity to Draco Malfoy send thrills down his spine and his heart thumping hard in his chest. As much as he had despised (or pretended to despise) Draco, he had always harbored an attraction to him, to the white blond hair and the angular features that were almost elfish. Malfoy's actions weren't admirable, that was definite, but contrary to the adamancy that the constant stalking that Harry exercised during school was always because of suspicions towards Malfoy, some of it was really more for leisure.  
"Fine, Malfoy, I'll accept your little challenge, as much as I hate to have to...serve you," Harry muttered. Malfoy's smirk turned into more of an evil grin as he contemplated his victory, undoubtedly reveling in forcing Harry to do all sorts of difficult work at his house. "Alright, Potter, as today is Friday, I suppose this will take place next week. I trust you have your work as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor off for the holidays?" Harry nodded- Christmas was two weeks away and there was a long break starting the next week. "Good. I expect you at my house 7:00 Sunday night- you know where it is. Bring sufficient clothing. Your cleaning supplies and cooking utensils, etcetera, will be provided." With that, Malfoy stood up and left the bar with a flourish.  
Harry made his way back to Grimmauld Place to be greeted with a gleaming house, a bowl of hot soup, and Kreacher bobbing around him, eager to please. He sat down to the delicious soup and ate it distractedly, still focusing on the unexpected and eventful encounter that had just taken place. Had he really agreed to Malfoy's outrageous terms? And how could he possibly control his rampant feelings for Draco when he was to be in close quarters with him for an entire week? Chewing over the entire situation, Harry finally decided to meet with Hermione about it via fireplace. Unable to wait until the next afternoon, he got up from his soup and knelt in front of the fireplace desperately. The next he knew, the disconcerting feeling of having his head disconnected from his body had taken place and he found himself face to face with none other than a poker and Ron's grotesquely close face as Ron stirred the fire.  
Ron gave a wild shout of alarm and then one of happiness- "BLOODY HELL, HARRY! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" He turned towards the open living room and shouted, "HERMIONE!! COME IN HERE! LOOK WHO SHOWED UP IN OUR FIREPLACE!" The sound of running feet, and then a wild looking Hermione with her hair poofing everywhere and her face one of complete surprise as she registered Harry's face in the fireplace. "Harry!!" she squealed, delighted. "What a surprise!" Harry grinned sheepishly. "Hi, guys. How've you been?" Ron and Hermione sat on the rug in front of the fireplace and spoke with Harry for a while about what had happened since the last time they met, about how surprised they were to see Harry, and just general conversation. When the talk slowed, Harry finally got to what he originally came to talk about. "Ron, can you just...let me talk to Hermione for a while? It's about something sort of delicate and it's not that I don't trust you, she's just always been better with this stuff." Ron looked rather puzzled but hastily agreed- he of all people was totally aware of his complete tactlessness- and left the room.  
Hermione looked at Harry with concern in her eyes. "What is it, Harry? Is something wrong?" Harry sighed and explained the situation (excluding his odd crush on Malfoy), Hermione looking more and more astonished with every word. After he was done and Hermione sat, astonished, Harry asked tentatively, "So, can you...help? I just don't know what to do, and I've agreed to go through with this- should I back out? I mean, does Malfoy deserve another chance?" Hermione sat quietly for a moment and then looked rather resigned. "Well, Harry, I can't offer much help- this whole thing is pretty insane- but...the war is over. Malfoy, as much as I hate to say it, could have turned a new leaf over. He deserves a chance just as much as anyone, maybe more, after what happened in the battle. Go through with it, but I would advise you to reserve your right to back out if you feel uncomfortable. And what a strange request- you'd think, after adamantly insisting his hatred for you all these years, he'd want absolutely nothing to do with you, not to stay with you for a week! Oh well...I'm not going to try to puzzle out Malfoy's thoughts." Harry smiled a little and thanked Hermione for her advice, saying his goodbyes and pulling his head out of the fireplace. The next week would surely be quite an adventure.


	3. The Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry arrives, with luggage in tow, but in fact the biggest bombshell of the night is dropped on Draco by Narcissa.

That Sunday, Draco was a nervous wreck. He had snapped at his mother several times for completely irrelevant things, and explained to her how she should act over and over. Narcissa finally escaped his anxious perfectionism and took refuge in her room. He made up the bed himself- in one of the guest rooms; Draco was planning on putting Potter in the basement for the duration of the stay, so he could experience what it would truly be like to be a slave of the Malfoy's, but his mother had insisted- and bustled around making sure everything was how he wanted it. By the time 7:00 came around, he was primly and properly ready, hiding his emotions behind a mental steel wall that could have given Bellatrix Lestrange a run for her money...if she were still alive.  
Promptly at 7:00 ('Ah, he's on time for a change,' Draco thought snidely), there was a rap on the door. Malfoy immediately rushed to open it, to be greeted with Harry Potter holding a suitcase and looking rather messy and windswept as usual. Draco swallowed the lump in his throat (and the butterflies that erupted in his stomach when he saw Harry) and greeted Potter, gesturing stiffly for him to follow to the bedroom he would be staying in. Potter put his suitcase on a chair in the room and sat on the bed. "Okay, Malfoy, I showed up- now what do you want me to do while I'm here?" Draco smirked mischeviously and it spread across his face as he saw the uneasy tense of Potter's shoulders and the change of his eyes from an emerald to a forest green.  
Draco began pacing the room. "Frankly? This house is old, and my mother and I are so used to having a house elf that what with the new laws in place freeing them (that damned Granger, he thought glumly), neither of us really have any idea what to do to clean up and make repairs. Magic only goes so far, and honestly I don't even know where to start. That's where you come in. Also, neither of us have any idea how to cook, either, so you'll be doing that. That'll be all- in your freetime, we have a huge library, and I suppose you can wander around where you want when there's nothing for you to do, it doesn't concern me."  
Harry looked rather grim. "Alright, Malfoy, I'll do your chores...if only because I have to. But you'd better not ask me to do anything ridiculous like cook and clean upside down or something, I have limits." Draco smiled a bit ruefully. "I was hoping you wouldn't think of that." With that, he swept out of the room to try in vain to rid himself of the little fluttery feeling that always showed up when Potter was around and only intensified knowing he was in Draco's house. When he reached the second floor, Narcissa called out, "Draco?" and he was summoned into her room. She was sitting in a chair and reading a book, but when he walked in she set the book down and merely looked at him until he began to get rather concerned. Finally, she gestured to the leather chair in front of her. Draco obediently sat down.  
"Draco..." she began, looking rather unsure of herself, which Draco was certainly not used to and which rather unnerved him, "about Mr. Potter..." He interrupted her quickly. "It's no trouble, Mother, don't worry, he won't make any trouble or anything- he's here to clean, that's all." Narcissa gave a thoughtful smile. "Is that really all he's here for, my dear? He seems to have taken a...well, he seems to....ah, he fancies you, Draco, and if I'm not much mistaken, you fancy him too." Draco's mouth had long since hit the floor- he was flabbergasted. His face was bright pink, his palms were sweating, and he was shifting back and forth. "Mother...that's preposterous! I'd no sooner fancy Harry Potter than I would have Professor Snape! If that's all, I think I'll just go...go to the library. Goodbye." He left in a rush, leaving Narcissa smiling nostalgically after him- perhaps remembering what she might have said to her mother when questioned about Lucius.


End file.
